Greater Men and Women of the Bible by James Hastings: 630. His Experience of Life

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Greater Men and Women of the Bible by James Hastings: 630. His Experience of Life


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His Experience of Life



John, whose surname was Mark.- Act_12:12.



1. The Hebrew name of this companion of the Apostles was John; it appears without addition in Act_13:5-13. To it the Roman prænomen Marcus was added, just as the Roman cognomen Paulus was added to the Hebrew name Saul. The name Marcus was that by which its bearer was commonly known among those for whom the Acts was written. As a change of name always corresponds with a crisis in life, and as in this case the name laid aside, John, was Jewish, and the name assumed or bestowed upon him, Mark (Marcus), was Roman, it is probable that the change marked his conversion from Judaism to Christianity, or his devoting himself to the propagation of his new faith among the Gentiles. The change of appellation coincides with the fact that so many of the allusions which we have to him represent him as sending messages of Christian greeting across the sea to his Gentile brethren. And it further coincides with the fact that his Gospel is obviously intended for the use of Gentile Christians, and, according to an old and reliable tradition, was written in Rome for Roman Christians. All these facts just indicate two things-that the more a man has real operative love to Jesus Christ in his heart, the more he will rise above all limitations of his interests, his sympathy, and his efforts, and the more surely will he let himself out, as far as he can, in affection towards and toils for all men.



This change of name, though it is a mere trifle, and may have been adopted as a matter of convenience, may also be taken as reminding us of a very important truth, and that is, that if we wish to help people, the first condition is that we go down and stand on their level, and make ourselves one with them, as far as we can. And so Mark may have said, “I have put away the name that parts me from these Gentiles, for whom I desire to work, and whom I love; and I take the name that binds me to them.”



It is the very same principle, in a small instance-just as a raindrop that hangs on the thorn of a rosebush is moulded by the same laws that shape the great sphere of the central sun-it is a small instance of the great principle which brought Jesus Christ down into the world to die for us. You must become like the people that you want to help. “Forasmuch as the children were partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same, that he might deliver them.” And so, not only the duty of widening our sympathies, but one of the supreme conditions of being of use to anybody, is set forth in the comparatively trifling incident, which we pass by without noticing it, that this man, a Jew to his finger-tips, finally found himself-or, rather, finally was carried, for it was no case of unconscious drifting-into the position of a messenger of the Cross to the Gentiles; and, for the sake of efficiency in his work, and of getting close by the side of people whom he wanted to influence, flung away deliberately that which parted him from them. It is a small matter, but a little window may show a very wide prospect.1 [Note: A. Maclaren, Christ's Musts, 300.]



2. The father of Mark is not mentioned in the New Testament or by any reliable tradition. His mother bears the common Hebrew name Mary (Act_12:12). She appears as a woman of some wealth, the possessor of a house with a porch, and with a room large enough to contain many, the mistress, it would seem, of a household, the duty of one παιδίσκη [slave girl] bearing a Greek name being to keep the door. Her house is one of the centres of the life of “the brethren” at Jerusalem. Peter goes there as a matter of course directly he has escaped from prison, and is well known there (v. 14). It is a natural conclusion that “the house of Mary” had become the home of Peter, and that the guest was in a sense the head of the household.



John Mark is not mentioned in this narrative, except for the purpose of distinguishing his mother Mary from others of the same name; but it is reasonable to suppose that he was present, and that he was already a believer, and intimate with Peter and the heads of the Church at Jerusalem.



In Col_4:10 Mark is spoken of as “the cousin” of Barnabas, the Joseph Barnabas of Act_4:36 f., of the tribe of Levi, born in Cyprus, a man of substance, and from almost the earliest days a leader among “the brethren.” It is not improbable, in view of the later history, that Mark too was by birth or previous residence connected with the Jewish colony in Cyprus; and, if we may assume that the cousins were the sons of two brothers, we learn that he was a Levite. There is every reason to think that he, like Saul, was a “Hebrew of Hebrews.”